Monday, May 20, 2019

Make
this pillow for your Adirondack chair to ease your neck while lounging in it. For this project you will need one fat quarter
(I suggest this in case you want to make your pillow bigger than what is
suggested here), Velcro (for one pillow you will need about 10 inches to be on
the safe side), about 25 inches of ribbon, and polyester fiberfill.

1. From your fabric, cut one piece 15” x 17”. Before you cut this size,
determine which way you want the pattern on the fabric to go. For
instance, my fabrics all have stripes.The first one I made, the stripes went lengthwise.However, my son said he wanted them to
go “up and down.”

2.Fold your piece of fabric in half with long edges
together and press the fold. It
should measure 15” x 8 ½” when folded.

3. Now
refold so that right side of fabric is on the inside. Again, this should measure 15” x 8 ½” when
folded.

4. Sew along the long open the edge of folded fabric.

5. Now slide or move this tube of fabric so that the
seam line you just stitched, lines up with the fold line that you pressed.

6. Press the piece flat so that the seam is in the
middle matching that fold line. Press the center seam open. This reduces bulk during the rest of the
sewing.

7. Once pressed, sew across one end to close tube. We will call this End A.

8. Sew the other end, together leaving a 4” opening. We will call this end End B. A tip I read on another blog: When making this opening, start sewing
at the corner and stop sewing at your mark indicating where to leave
open. With your needle down, turn the fabric and stitch to the outer edge of the fabric. Do the same when you
continue on the other side of your 4” mark. This makes it easier to fold after you
turn it inside out.

9. Turn right side out and press.

10. Then stitch ¼” around project. Make sure to leave the 4” opening at End
B so you can stuff the pillow.

11. Prepare
the straps. I used Velcro with a sticky
back and 1 ¼” Ribbon (wider if desired). I cut the ribbon
in two sizes (to save on having to purchase more ribbon) but you can cut the
length you want. Just make sure the
ribbon will reach and overlap when attached to the chair. For me, I cut one piece 8 ½” long and the
other 11 ½” long. I used pinking shears to cut the ribbon. Before
attaching the ribbon to the pillow, attach the Velcro. First,
place a 4” strip of Velcro on the short piece of ribbon. Center the Velcro on the ribbon and place the
Velcro about 1” from the one end that is Not
going to be sewn to the pillow. Then with
the sister piece of Velcro, center it on the longer piece of ribbon, again about
1” from the end that is not going to be sewn to pillow.

12. I
chose the stick-on Velcro because I thought it would be easier. Not sure about that because it kept gumming
up my needle, consequently I just sewed the ends of the Velcro to the ribbon
rather than the length of the cut Velcro and hope it stays on.

13. Turn the other end of the ribbon under. This is
the end that you will sew to the pillow.

14. Above, you can see where I sewed one end to the
pillow, End A. Center the ribbon across the center seam. You should sew the turned under edge
down and make sure that the Velcro is facing up. (I took this picture early, before I
realized I needed to sew the Velcro 1” from the end.)

15.When
attaching the ribbon, try to stitch on the stitching line you made when sewing
the ¼” around the pillow in step 10.

16. Sew the other piece of the ribbon to
the opening of the pillow, End B. Center the ribbon on the center seam so it will match up with the ribbon you sewed to End A. Be careful to stitch to only one side of the opening and make sure that this
part of the Velcro faces down so the two pieces of Velcroed Ribbon will hook. Do this before
you do any stuffing. (I know the picture shows the stuffing but I forgot
to take the picture in time.)

17. Then the fun begins.You stuff the pillow as tightly as you can
with the polyester fiberfill.

18. After the pillow is stuffed, pin it securely and using your zipper foot sew the opening closed. Try to start and finish where previous outside stitching was made.

Here is the finished pillow from the back.

And here is the finished pillow from the front.

ENJOY

PS: I'm not used to writing a tutorial so, if you have questions please let me know.

Sunday, May 19, 2019

Do these chairs look naked to you? Have you ever felt a little uncomfortable in one of these chairs? My son and I went to the Cottage show downtown and found a way to make them look dressed up and the experience of sitting in them more enjoyable.

Make a neck pillow. It not only dresses up the chair, it eases the neck/back pain when spending time with friends and family sitting by the fire at the lake. The pillows were on display at the show, but we couldn't afford 12 pillows for his chairs. Naturally, I volunteered to make them. My son says they are perfect.

They are quick and easy to make and of course you can find beautiful fabric for making them at the Attic Window Quilt Shop.

Here are the pillows I made.

Even Champ thinks a chair with a pillow is better. Stop by tomorrow for a quick tutorial on how to make these easy peasy pillows.

AT THE ATTIC WINDOW QUILT SHOP

Tuesday, May 21

Bee

Civil War BOM

Vintage Christmas

Wednesday, May 22

Starburst

Thursday, May 23

Doll Bee

Intermediate Quilting

Friday, May 24

Mary Poppins Bag

Stitch-In

ON ANOTHER NOTE:

Sew Can She has a tutorial for making a Journaling Bookmark and Pencil Holder.

Thursday, May 16, 2019

I wanted to point out a couple items that you won't want to miss when you visit the Attic Window Quilt Shop. Also, for those of you who are not able to visit the shop, I thought you'd like a look-see too. The above wall hanging by Jeanne Bird is really something you will appreciate.

Jeanne took the pattern that the Attic Window Quilt Shop distributed for the 2016 Row By Row quilt and made this fantastic wall hanging. There are a ton of these little buttons on it. Birds are everywhere.

Even in the trees with the apples.

Of course every farm has cats and chickens and a vegetable basket with veggies.

Love the sign on the barn. I understand that this was Jeanne's family farm. Such talent!

Jeanne also made this beautiful quilt. She participated in last year's Sampler series at the shop. She created this design for finishing the quilt. The Sampler blocks border the quilt and she decided on what to put in the center.

Above is a close up of one of the center squares. This is an awesome quilt! I repeat: What talent!

Attic Window Teachers

Attic Window Teachers

Quilts For Wheels

Many thanks and much appreciation goes to the women who work diligently each month to make quilts for those in wheel chairs. Kudos go to: Yvonne, Mary T., Fran, Joan, Mary Ellen, Barb, Lee Ann, Nancy, Mary.

Quilting for Kids With Cancer

Generosity has no bounds. Above are the women in the Quilts For Kids group at the Attic Window Quilt Shop. Left to right, Henrietta, Phyllis, Nancy, Carol, Karen. These women donate their time, fabric, money once a month to make quilts for kids who have cancer.

Pinterest

About Me

West Michigan Quilter

This blog is dedicated to the women and men of West Michigan who would like to attend the Attic Window Quilt Classes. This is where you can see the class samples and pictures of the teachers. Be sure and stop back from time to time to check out what is new. You may email me at westmichquilter@gmail.com